Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Musings: Coming Together

The moon — just hours short of fullness —was low and yellow, playing hide and seek with pearlescent clouds, when Koko and I went walking last evening. It remained bright through the night, peeking in my window, penetrating my dreams, shining even through a sudden downpour that left rain dripping from the eaves, while in the distance, the surf roared.

It was still up, causing the wet leaves to sparkle, lighting our way as headed mauka this morning, until it was swept into a mass of gray to the south of Waialeale and succumbed, finally, to the pink-streaked murkiness of a windswept dawn.

Through it all, my mind was on the radio show that Jimmy Trujillo and I hosted yesterday evening, and how it had revealed to me — yet again — the many ways that the state pits Hawaiians against one another and places them in the quandary of opting out completely or participating in a system that isn’t really intended to serve their interests.

And that’s particularly true with the Burial Council, as Presley Wann, who just completed two four-year terms on the Council, outlined in recounting his tenure on that panel.

He applied to serve because he’d encountered iwi a number of times during his 34 years in the construction industry. Back in the days before the burial laws were passed, he’d simply wrap the iwi in ti leaf, say a short pule, return them to where they’d been found, backfill and keep on going.

As a Hawaiian, Presley was always bothered by whether he’d handled the iwi appropriately, so when he was approached to serve on the Council, he agreed, in hopes of learning more and broadening his understanding.

And while Presley looks to the day when kanaka will have their nation back, he also wanted to know more about how the state functions, so that he could work effectively on behalf of his people in the meantime.

He’s emerging from his tenure convinced that the burial law must be radically altered. The Council, he said, needs to be consulted up front, rather than at the end of the process “when everybody’s all frustrated. That’s why we took a lot of the heat. We need to be involved way ahead of time. As Hawaiians, we know where our burials are.”

And laws governing real estate transactions in the Islands need to be revamped to include the caveat that “nobody’s guaranteeing you the right to build.” Because some places, like the Naue site where Joe Brescia is building a house atop more than 30 burials, simply aren’t suited to development, Presley said.

The Council also was advised that by law, “we couldn’t totally stop a building,” Presley said. “We didn’t have that kind of power.”

Instead, they were limited to preserving the burials in place, or reinterring them elsewhere. And many times, he said, neither was the option the Council would have chosen.

The extent to which the Council could change the design of a house or its placement on a site was always a gray area, he said, and Judge Kathleen Watanabe’s ruling that Brescia proceeded at his own risk by continuing to build without an approved Burial Treatment Plan (BTP) “made it even more gray.”

A caller read from a letter she’d received from Pua Aiu, director of the State Historic Preservation Division, stating that the agency won’t be investigating a revocation of Brescia’s building permit — even though the permit’s conditions require an approved BTP — “as we don’t have the legal authority to do so.”

Does it? Perhaps that’s a question, like the full extent of the Council’s power, that’s intentionally left gray, unanswered, because to do so would almost certainly hamper development.

And truth be told, the purpose of the burial law is not to fully protect and malama the iwi, but to create a process by which they can legitimately be disturbed so as to allow development.

Still, as Presley pointed out, until there’s a day of sovereignty or a Hawaiian nation, the Burial Council is the only means afforded kanaka by the state to have a say in what happens to their iwi kupuna.

While Presley’s first-hand experience was valuable, I was especially touched by the way it affected Nani Rogers and Andrew Cababe, both of whom have been deeply involved in the Naue burials issue. Nani, teary-eyed, said she finally understood what it was like to sit in the chair of a Council member, and she apologized to Presley for the ranting and raving that the panel had experienced.

Presley, too, was teary-eyed, as was Andrew, because it was clear they’re all on the same page and deeply troubled by what has happened at Naue. They all want to keep the iwi from being disturbed and desecrated. Building on burials or digging them up and moving them elsewhere is not something that they consider culturally appropriate.

But that's the process created by the state, which sucks them into a system that serves not to further their cultural interests but to turn them against one another, make them believe that they’re on opposing sides.

Afterwards, in the parking lot, the three of them exchanged ideas on how to work both within the system and outside it, and they parted as friends and allies.

So yes, as long as the state is running the show, it’s good for conscientious and caring kanaka to serve on the Burial Council and work for dramatic changes in the law.

And they also need to keep coming together, communicating with one another, breaking down the barriers to their unification erected by the state whose interests are best served by the old technique of divide and conquer.

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

And truth be told, the purpose of the burial law is not to fully protect and malama the iwi, but to create a process by which they can legitimately be disturbed so as to allow development.
====

And THAT is the proper attitude to take. We are not in the 19th or earlier century.

Respectfully move them. Do not allow them to be a legal hindrance to development which it otherwise OK'd....or more to the point, a back-door legal stoppage to development "the locals" don't want in their vain attempt to put their finger in the dike of development and population growth from the mainland.

Anonymous said...

The cultural interests of any subordinate group, as are the Hawaiians in the state of Hawaii, will never become the "rule of law" stopping the superordinate group (Americans) from achieving their goals.

The only real hope is the Akaka bill establishing "reservations" where more "native authority" would exist.

Regaining the Nation of Hawaii is a pipe dream. No one else in the world cares.

And, how would the "Nation of Hawaii" stand up for itself without being under another nations protectorship, like the Marshall Islands?

Sooner or later, someone else would overrun Hawaii and you would yearn for the good old days of being American.

Miliaulani said...

The two previous comments reflect so clearly why nothing short of complete independence for Kanaka Maoli will protect our cultural values and traditions. Referring to my culture as "subordinate" in the homeland of my kupuna reeks of the same superior attitude that prevailed when Europeans happened across ka pae aina Hawaii in the late 1700's and again when American missionaries arrived in 1820.

The Hawaiian Nation is not a pipe dream, in fact it is alive and well and never went away. The overthrow was in fact illegal. A Treaty of Annexation doesn't exist because overwhelming opposition in Hawaii prevented it's passage. The Newlands Resolution is an internal law that is not binding between 2 independent countries, therefore null and void and lastly, the statehood referandum was a continuation of the fraud that today is being revealed to the world. And you are wrong, there are many the world over who do care...especially other indigenous cultures who have been raped and pillaged in the same way.

Anonymous said...

blah, blah, blah....so what has it gotten you lately?

"Subordinate" was merely referring to population numbers. By any quantitative definition, "Hawaiian" comes up short by state headcount.

Anonymous said...

"Referring to my culture as 'subordinate' in the homeland of my kupuna"

Isn't the "homeland" a bit further south...like Tahiti?

Who gets to claim Antartica? The first person on the ice??

Anonymous said...

It doesn't matter who was "there first". History is littered with peoples who were "there first" and "owned the place" who are now either non-existent or subordinated to another controlling culture.

It's history, baby. Nothing lasts forever...not the nation of hawaii...not america...not the mayans...not Rome...etc.

Stop whining, already, and get on the American bandwagon, unless you like a life of agnst and pining for a past that will never repeat.

Larry said...

If new lawmaking is needed, for example, to give burial councils some teeth, who can work at that? A bill would have to be written, sponsorship found to introduce it (not as a bogus "on request" bill but as a real one) in each house.

Given a bill, I hope that there would be many people here on Oahu who would make the short trek to the State Capitol to give oral testimony in favor of it. I would.

Developers are very powerful and lawmakers can be greedy for their financial support. On the other hand, much good does get through the legislature each year.

Anonymous said...

"t's history, baby. Nothing lasts forever...not the nation of hawaii...not america...not the mayans...not Rome...etc.

Stop whining, already, and get on the American bandwagon, unless you like a life of agnst and pining for a past that will never repeat."

Howz bout building a new future starting with knocking Amerika off da bandwagon -- nothing last forever and I hear the last gasp of capitalism rattling as we speak. The say lead move or get out of the way, but I no move I like stay!

Anonymous said...

Speaking of fingers in the dike, from today's Garden Island:

Global warming and one of its major byproducts — sea-level rise — will not swallow the Hawaiian Islands whole, but will gradually creep into people’s lives, University of Hawai‘i professor Dr. Chip Fletcher warned the Kaua‘i Planning Commission.

While ice-melt from Greenland, the world’s second-largest ice mass after Antarctica, won’t reach Hawai‘i for up to 50 years, thermal expansion of the ocean caused by increasing water temperatures will have a very real and more immediate impact, he said.

“This is happening already,” but it is so subtle and slow that people don’t see it entering our lives, Fletcher said. “It’s drainage that will be our biggest problem. ... We’re going to have urban wetlands and urban estuaries.”

Currently, the annual high tide in Honolulu puts salt water in a drainage ditch alongside a road fronting the Ala Wai Canal, but soon the high tide of the month or even the daily high tide could be causing similar problems, Fletcher said.

Furthermore, a higher sea level will increase the damage caused by large wave events. At current levels, only the 25-year wave has enough power to reach into some low-lying coastal O‘ahu neighborhoods, but Fletcher said a rise in sea level of only one foot could put large waves into human-populated areas annually.

Fletcher encouraged the commission to begin planning for the eventuality of higher sea levels by requiring sea-level rise assessment on permits and environmental assessments and designing infrastructure and building codes to meet risk, comparing developing near the shoreline to building a home on the side of Kilauea’s active volcano.

“We can buy decades and generations of time if we begin to build this into our plans,” he said. “Our future will be of our own making.”

As for stopping "development and population growth from the mainland", only the economy can do that.

nowondertheyhateus said...

What comes to mind reading the 1st two commenters (and some others on this site) is the description recently awarded Sara Palin on the Huffington Post as being: inarticulate & undereducated.

It is best not to get oneʻs mitts soiled with these ʻcrawlersʻ.

Anonymous said...

"laws [...] to include the caveat that “nobody’s guaranteeing you the right to build.”

-- probably totally constitutionally undefendable


"We are not in the 19th or earlier century."

-- granted, all superstitions should die. but we are also in a democracy, and the "interest" certain "locals" have in such graves can be quite legit, and should be accounted for and given due weight


"hear the last gasp of capitalism rattling as we speak"

-- whatever


"As for stopping "development and population growth from the mainland", only the economy can do that."

-- eh...whether economics accounts for all of why certain groups around the world dont have such big families anymore, i dunno...i like to know tho


"inarticulate & undereducated"

-- no, you just dont like and/or disagree with their points and/or attitude


dwps

Anonymous said...

July 7, 2009 4:10 PM

Gee, itʻs so good you came along to correct all of us and clean up our stupidity...we could call you the ʻThe hand of blogʻ...or..

Anonymous said...

but he got it right and the stupidity was duly cleaned up.

Now, the fantasies of independence or buried bones totally stopping development...nothing will change those....nor make them come true.

Anonymous said...

"hear the last gasp of capitalism rattling as we speak"

-- whatever

"whatever?" How dismissive of you. There is a big difference between the past problems with disrupted resource supply chains and the current hitting the limits of the eco-systems ability to replenish itself on a worldwide scale. Despite what u hear these are the good old days and its not going to get better despite the hopeful happy talk on the tube. The eco system is in freefall crash mode.

Anonymous said...

Well, it's open bar time here, because the eco "plane" isn't going to crash before I expire of natural causes. So, for me, I'm embracing the ride right up there in first class.

What happens after I'm gone is no concern of mine.

Anonymous said...

to July 7, 2009 7:35 PM

yes, it was deliberately dismissive, and deservedly so (in my view). and your comment as to disrupting an ecochain vs pushing such a system to the brink of collapse is well taken

as to the end of free / cheap / unwarranted credit...crazy wall street junk asset leveraging, etc, ...and the (new) reality of serving pretty damn big national debt etc....or 3rd world food crises via $100 oil, i hear ya

as to "eco system is in freefall crash mode"....eh, i guess if you graph species loss it looks like armageddon. otherwise id just suggest your phrase will be governed by how well the first world selflessly helps india/china manage growth

nowondertheyhateus said...

"Now, the fantasies of independence or buried bones totally stopping development...nothing will change those....nor make them come true."

July 7, 2009 4:47 PM

Do you think if you say it forcefully and affirmatively enough that it will become true? Like the little choo choo train?

Get a grip. What you fear most is inevitable...thatʻs why you blog and blog as the naysayer and rant and rave with your typical amerikan traits...because you fear it.

Independence will happen.

Anonymous said...

"Instead, they were limited to preserving the burials in place, or reinterring them elsewhere. And many times, he said, neither was the option the Council would have chosen."

Sheesh, what does he mean? What other option is there? Preserve half a skeleton and re-locate half a skeleton?

And while we're at it, let's blame the "State" for everything, they are always a convenient scapegoat...

Anonymous said...

"What happens after I'm gone is no concern of mine."

You have no connection with any child? How sad.

Anonymous said...

"Independence will happen."

Ha! Not in my lifetime, nor that of my great-great-grandchildren. I will allow an incredibly slim possibility for it thereafter.

You will be a nation for about 3 months before being taken over by China.

Anonymous said...

So US influence will wane during the lifetime of your great great great grandchildren to the point where we cede the Hawaiian Islands to China?

Anonymous said...

It has more probability than a new Nation of Hawaii existing for any length of time any sooner than that far out.

In any case, what happens after I'm dead is meaningless to me.

Anonymous said...

Mahalo Joan for your eloquent summary of yesterday's KKCR "panel" discussion. You pulled it all together with so much clarity.

Stopping Development is a tall order. But having a planned, controlled development would give the time needed for all angles and perceptions to be heard, examined AND included in the decisions.

I don't perceive Kanaka Maoli wanting to "go back in time", but instead I see the movement and action as a mission to preserve and perpetuate the cultural values that are still very alive within them. Values that give purpose to being alive.......

Some naysayers seem to be so far from that source connection within themselves that all they can do is fear instead of even attempting to understand.

Compassion and Communication. Key to moving forward with change.

Anonymous said...

agreed! excellent post joan. larry's comments are part of the solution in the short term; until restorative justice is found. long term solutions would look towards community standards for burial sites that respect tradition, culture and the aina. mahalo again for an excellent show. hope all went well on oahu

Anonymous said...

The burials and coastal protection always went hand in hand. It's common knowledge Hawaiian Burials are in the sand dunes. These same sand dunes are part of the beach, without the sand dunes, the beach has a very limited life.
That 2 tsunami's in Haena wiped out all but one of the houses in Haena in 1946 and 1957. Real loss of life and property limited development. These developers have no history here, and a limited future. Government failed, natures turn...

Anonymous said...

All these, "not in my lifetime predictors", might I remind folks that nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition. Civilization is only 3 meals deep.

Anonymous said...

"In any case, what happens after I'm dead is meaningless to me."

Now that's isolation.

Anonymous said...

"Independence will happen."

"Do you think if you say it forcefully and affirmatively enough that it will become true? Like the little choo choo train?"

nowondertheyhateus said...

In case you havenʻt noticed, it has already begun.

Anonymous said...

damn near impossible to notice, given the abysmal rate of progress.

kind of like one mosquito saying it's already started draining that elephant of blood...any day now, it will be empty!

kind of like the progress our sun is making toward its red dwarf stage that will turn our planet to a cinder.

maybe the kingdom of hawaii will emerge again a few days before that.

Anonymous said...

"In any case, what happens after I'm dead is meaningless to me."

Now that's isolation.

July 8, 2009 8:49 AM

=========

Thank you. I feel fine in my isolation, insulation and decoupling (with my like-minded friends) from "the world".

I am now only a cynical observer and commenter on life's grand pageant playing out in multiple rings of this x-ring circus.

(I am for capitalism and rich people in general, of course...my kind)

Anonymous said...

Don't the rich have kids?

Anonymous said...

yah, but many of us (ourselves included) are spending their inheritance.

they're on their own.

Anonymous said...

You don't have any sense of obligation to future generations?

Anonymous said...

NO

Anonymous said...

Not even to puppies and kittens?

Anonymous said...

I feed those to my pythons.

watchdog said...

gadfly is back to teach us something.

Anonymous said...

I must have fallen asleep in class...what was the lesson?

Who is "gadfly"?

So far, I'm leaning in the direction of the one or more anon's who seem to take an opposing position to the tone of this "musing" in particular and blog in general.